Event communication system for providing user alerts

Abstract

An event communication system involves facilitating entry by a user of one or more device addresses via a network accessible user interface of the event communication system. The device addresses are associated with alerts provided by the event communication system. Test alert messages targeted for the device addresses are sent via the user interface. The system sends alerts user devices corresponding to the one or more tested device addresses in response to predetermined events. The system may provide user access to historical copies of data relating to the alerts. Registration on the system involves storing a personal identity data of a student on a database and comparing the personal identity data to registration data entered via the user interface. Authentication is automatically provided based on the comparison.

1. An apparatus comprising:
 a user interface configured to facilitate defining groups associated with a plurality of schools, and to facilitate adding members to the defined groups; and 
 an alerts module coupled to the user interface and configured to detect selection of at least one of the groups via the user interface for purposes of sending messages to the at least one group, and to send alerts to devices of the members of the selected at least one group distributed among at least two of the plurality of schools. 
 
     
     
       2. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the user interface is configured to facilitate the adding of the members to the groups by receiving identification of a school from a list of the plurality of schools, wherein a plurality of existing groups associated with the selected school are selectable for addition to the groups based on the selection of the selected school. 
     
     
       3. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the alerts module is further configured to form an alert hierarchy having a plurality of the defined groups within each of the plurality of schools. 
     
     
       4. The apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein the alerts module is configured to form the alert hierarchy by respectively associating the plurality of schools with one or more districts, and wherein the alerts module is configured to send the alerts targeted for at least one of the defined groups within at least one of the districts. 
     
     
       5. The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising a user manager module configured to store personal identity data associated with each student at the plurality of schools, and wherein the user interface is further configured to communicate with the user manager module to receive registration data from the members. 
     
     
       6. An apparatus comprising:
 a persistent storage; and 
 an alerts module configured to communicate with the persistent storage, and configured to register users to receive electronic alerts relating to students, electronically send alerts to devices of the users in response to events affecting the students, store historical copies of data relating to the alerts, and provide access to the historical copies to the users. 
 
     
     
       7. The apparatus of  claim 6 , further comprising a user interface configured to facilitate user access to the persistent storage, and wherein the alerts module is configured to provide access to the historical copies of the users by searching through the historical copies of the data corresponding to the accessing user. 
     
     
       8. The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the alerts module is further configured to detect that the accessing user viewed the historical copies of the data relating to the alerts. 
     
     
       9. The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the alerts module is further configured to store in the persistent storage whether the accessing user viewed the historical copies of the data relating to the alerts. 
     
     
       10. The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the alerts module is further configured to store in the persistent storage at least one of alert dates, alert times, alert categories, and senders of the alerts. 
     
     
       11. The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the alerts module is further configured to check an age of the historical copies, and prevent automatic deletion of historical copies that satisfy a predetermined age.